• As you gather your grains of salt, we'll start with this report from Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald (suburban Chicago's largest daily newspaper), who looks at the Chicago Bulls' offseason plans and explores how LaMarcus Aldridge could fit into those plans:

Word is, Aldridge wants to escape from Portland's rebuilding project and has made it known that he'd like to land in Chicago.
Deng for Aldridge won't get it done. The Blazers want Joakim Noah in return and the Bulls don't want to give up the superior defensive big man.
Here's one way to get Portland's attention: Offer Deng and Charlotte's future No. 1 pick. The Bulls are counting on that Bobcats' pick (acquired for Thomas, ironically), to pay off big, because it's unprotected in 2016.

• Blazers.com's Casey Holdahl is in New York and caught up with all the green room invitees today, including Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams:

"I interviewed with Portland; I never went to work out with them," said Carter-Williams. "This year they had a point guard in Damian Lillard. If I get chosen by them, it's not something I can do, it's not a particular place where I choose to go, but I'd go there and make the best of it and then see what happens when my time comes."

Blazers GM Neil Olshey has made it clear that his goal is to acquire a starting-caliber center, although it’s not yet clear whether he will be able to achieve that via trade on draft night. With 2012 first-round pick Meyers Leonard already on the roster — and struggling to get consistent minutes under Terry Stotts — Portland would be foolish to draft another big man if he’s not ready to contribute immediately. That could make Zeller the guy. A preferable approach would be to address their need for a reserve scoring guard to complement Damian Lillard and three-and-D starter Wesley Matthews. Unfortunately, the top two options on that front — Caldwell-Pope and McCollum — could both be gone by 10. Carter-Williams represents a fallback plan, as back-up point guard Eric Maynor is headed for free agency and didn’t play well enough after the trade deadline to warrant “must retain” status.

Could Cody Zeller be on the rise ... again?
You remember Zeller, right? The consensus top-three pick before the start of last season whose stock plummeted when he didn't show significant improvement during his sophomore season? Well, that stock is starting to tick up. After testing extremely well at the combine, Zeller, sources say, has shown a nice touch from the perimeter during his individual workouts, one of the biggest knocks against him coming out of Indiana. I don't see any chance he gets out of the top 10 and he could go as high as No. 5 to Phoenix.